Design team hired for dam bypass

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

The federal government has hired a design team for the Hoover Dam bypass, a project that will move slower truck traffic around the historic dam 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

The Federal Highway Administration last week awarded a $22 million contract to HDR Engineering, an Omaha, Neb., consulting group, for design services that could begin later this year.

The FHA supports a plan to build the new highway over the Colorado River a quarter-mile south of the dam.

Construction is scheduled to start in late 2002 and take five years to complete.

Federal and regional officials for years have sought to reduce congestion along the two-lane roadway over the dam, where traffic frequently slows to a crawl for miles.

Emergency crews worry that a serious accident could endanger the dam and Lake Mead, the major source of drinking water for millions in the Southwest.

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